Why America dominates

The Daily Telegraph reports that officials at Bury Youth Services in Greater Manchester recognise not only how youngsters find their way to a local bus stop, but also how they sit on a seat during their journey. Their certificates, issued to 11 to 15-year-olds taking a course called “Using Public Transport (Unit 1)”, recognise the ability to:
* Walk to the local bus stop.
* Stand or sit at the bus stop and wait for the arrival of a public bus.
* Enter the bus in a calm and safe manner.
* Be directed to a downstairs seat by a member of staff
* Sit on the bus and observe through the windows.
* Wait until the bus has stopped, stand on request and exit the bus.

America takes a lot of crap for how uninformed we are and how much better we think we are than other countries, but all I have to say is.... doesn't it seem justified? Despite our relatively young age, we were able to fend of the biggest superpower of the times when we won our independence back at the tail end of the 1700s. This was basically the equivalent of a 12 year-old beating up his dad... never happens unless the dad is pretty weak and the 12 year old is a stud. Well America was basically the LeBron of 12-year olds back then.

Flash forward 200 years and we were again matched up against a huge "so-called" superpower called the Soviet Union... after taking us on in a 20 year cold war, America was left to thrive while the Russians were relegated to an afterthought and forced to turn off movies like Rocky II before the Russian foil was inevitably defeated by Rocky or another American hero.

And now it seems we know why we have dominated the world for the last 200 odd years. While Americans are busy encouraging their kids to be powerful international moguls the rest of the world is trying to teach their kids how to ride a bus. Even Jessica Simpson has the innate knowledge required to get on a bus and sit in a seat... how is it that our ancestors are lacking in this department?